The music star plays an ex-drug runner whose nephew - played by Michael, then 10 - joins him for a day as he tries to become a businessman in the indie movie.

Common told Vulture: "Oh, man, he's totally an actor. This is actually his second film; his first film he did was an Italian film. He spoke Italian in it and was amazing; I thought the kid was from Italy, that's how talented he is.

"He's this great little soul; he has an old soul to him. Not just soul, but he has a certain level of intelligence and creativity that you feel is from an older dimension, older world. But then he's still a kid; he still has fun. He's just a creative force. His creativity comes through in music, in acting - he wants to do it all."

Common - who has been working on his tenth album - also revealed that his pint-sized co-star also had good hip-hop knowledge.

"In interviews, he would say I'm his favourite rapper. I guess I may have become that for him once he got to know me, but I mean, he did know a lot of hip-hop. He knew the Wu-Tang. He knew Slick Rick."